Media (e.g., digital media) may be presented to one or more users, for example, for purposes of entertainment, merchandising (e.g., advertising), education, public service, or other communication of information. Some media may be characterized as being “interactive” where the user to whom the media is presented can interact with the media itself (e.g., its content). That is, the content of the media depends, at least partly, on input from the user. A computer game (e.g., videogame) is an example of interactive media in which a user (e.g., game player) has at least some control over the content of the computer game (e.g., video or audio associated with achieving or failing a goal, gaining or losing an item in the game, or the appearance of the user's character or avatar within the game). Software that emulates or simulates a musical instrument (e.g., a drum machine or piano tutorial) is another example of interactive media, since the user fully or partly controls the audio content (e.g., sounds or music) produced by the software.
Generally, simply allowing a user to control a playing of media that cannot be changed by the user would not be considered “interactive.” For example, a movie may be presented to a user (e.g., movie viewer) via a player device (e.g., a portable media player) or player software (e.g., executing on a computer). Although the player device or software may allow the user to play the movie, pause the movie, skip forward within the movie, and skip backward within the movie, the movie itself (e.g., the content of the movie) is unchangeable by the viewer. Hence, playing the movie itself is not an interactive experience for the viewer.
In some situations, an interactive experience includes the playing or triggering of non-interactive media. For example, a video “cut scene” may be automatically played between levels of a computer game. In such an example, the computer game is an interactive experience, for at least the reason that the player controls when one level is completed, thereby controlling when the video “cut scene” is played, even though the video “cut scene” itself is non-interactive.